A Tale of Two Seas: A Thanks-Living Challenge, Post #4

November 26, 2013

A Tale of Two Seas: A Thanks-Living Challenge, Post #4

I love Thanksgiving. I am so proud of our great country, of President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the Civil War, who set aside the fourth Thursday of November as a holiday, proclaiming “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

How will you and your family spend this Thanksgiving holiday?

We are blessed with so much, yet we want so much more. We take and take some more. So often, our hearts are wired for discontentment. To illustrate the point, this tale of two seas comes to mind.

Do you remember learning about The Dead Sea in school or church? The Dead Sea is really a lake, not a sea. It is so high in salt content that a human body can float easily. Supposedly, a person can almost lie down and read a book! The salt in the Dead Sea is as high as 35 percent—almost 10 times normal ocean water salt content.

All that saltiness means there is no life at all in the Dead Sea. No fish. No sea animals. No vegetation. Nothing lives in the Dead Sea.

The Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea. This sea, though, is teeming with rich, colorful marine life, plants, and fish. More than 20 types of fish live in the Sea of Galilee.

Guess what the source of water is for both seas? Both the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee receive their water from the River Jordan. How can that be?

The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee, then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee, keeping the Sea vibrant and healthy, chock full of marine life.

The Dead Sea, though, is so far below sea level, the water has no outlet. It flows in from the River Jordan, but does not flow out. Figures estimate that more than seven million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea daily, leaving it too salty and full of minerals for any marine life to survive.

This “Tale of Two Seas” offers a valuable life lesson on giving and giving thanks. On letting the Living Waters flow through us, not hoard the life, blessings, gifts and talents we have been freely given.

I challenge you to turn this Thanksgiving into Thanks-living. Not just one day of the year, but every day.

I challenge you not to shop on Thanksgiving or even Black Friday. Marinate in the blessings of what we already have instead of buying more and more and more. Let Christmas shopping wait. Savor the laughter and making memories with your family and friends this weekend. These are gifts unable to be bought.

I challenge you to curb the television watching or even turn it off (sorry, football fans)! Listen to each other, to the music of the loved ones’ voices. Dance. Make your music.

You are the Sea of Galilee, a beautiful body flowing with life, Living Water. Let it flow.

Happy Thanks-Living, dear friend.

Reflect:

How will you transform Thanksgiving into Thanks-Living?

For what, for whom are you thankful?

Renew:

“Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth.” –Psalm 98:7-9.
“Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” –Psalm 100:4.
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of Living Water will flow from within him.’” –John 7:37-38.

Recharge:

Please start a Gratitude Journal this week and list at least three blessings daily. It could be a warm house, your health, laughter, cozy coats and boots. Keep going. You can do it.
Please let me know of some of your many blessings.

Resources:

November 5, 2013

Loving Your Neighbor, Post #1

Bob turned 95 years old in August. His bright, blue eyes sparkled behind his thick, smudged glasses. His black cardigan sweater was his uniform, soiled with food and drinks missed by his mouth and napkin. His mind was sharp and his sense of humor lightened every setting. His Canon camera hung round his neck always ready to capture each moment.

Bob served as the patriarch of our neighborhood cul-de-sac. Retiring from Chicago as a graphic artist, Bob and his wife Lee paid $50,000 cash in 1986 for his Charleston home to be built. His firm was instrumental in creating the Coca-Cola Santa Claus. More importantly, he created a customized watercolor card for each of us for our birthdays and designed a beautiful pen and ink Charleston scene as his Christmas card each year. He was a legend. Bob’s wife passed away in 1993 and he never remarried. He lived alone. We as neighbors adopted him.

Both my grandfathers passed away before I was born, so Bob became my surrogate grandfather. He has four children, three who live in Illinois and one in California. As neighbors we worked together daily to take him meals, remind him to take his medications, drive him to Wal-mart, and take him to the barber shop. My special job was to accompany him with his walker on a stroll several times a week around the cul-de-sac for some sunshine and exercise.

Recently, both Bob and the neighbors realized he was getting too frail and medically dependent to live alone. He and his children decided he would move to Illinois to live with one of the daughters. Bob took the news pretty well and just kept talking about the cold. He slowly began to gather boxes and we helped him pack his most prized possessions, like his photographic scrapbooks, chronicling almost each moment.

On August 2, the neighbors and I threw a 95^th birthday and farewell party for Bob at his church along with his children and Optimist Club friends. In all about 100 people attended. His pastor said it was the first party of its kind he had seen with the person still in the room, still there to hear the sweet accolades instead of waiting until the honored guest had passed away. Bob had no doubt he was loved. He flew to Illinois the same day the moving truck came for his belongings. He didn’t have to see the For Sale sign being put in the front yard. Bob passed away on September 26^th of pneumonia, less than two months after he moved.

My life is so much better for having loved, learned from and laughed with Bob.

Reflect:

Who is your Bob (neighbor)?
Who can you love on a little more?

Renew:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” –Mark 12:30, 31.

Recharge:

Name one neighbor or person you will intentionally reach out to as we approach this season of Thanksgiving. Perhaps it’s calling and taking a picnic basket to your older neighbor or a loved one in an assisted living facility. Perhaps it’s riding bicycles with some neighbors and their children. It takes just a few moments.
Please let me know what you decide to do.

Resource:

Robert “Bob” Anderson’s art legacy lives on. Please consider purchasing one of his beautiful “Charleston Orphan House” prints as a gift at the Shops of Historic Charleston Foundation, 108 Meeting Street in Charleston. (843) 724-8484.

August 6, 2012

Little boy Communication Lessons from a Horse

I will always remember my coworker Dunc from Denmark, SC, telling me that when he was nine years old, he and his grandfather were walking with a horse on his grandfather’s farm.

Dunc asked, “Granddaddy, how can a little boy like me walk a big horse like this?”

His grandfather answered. “Simple, son. You just take the horse gently by the reins and walk beside him. The moment, though, you stand in front of the horse, look him in the eyes, and pull on him, he won’t budge.”

I think of that lesson so often when dealing with relationships.